Farmers, he says, "are a bunch of smart guys. They went to college. I just show them, using my experience."
Guzman even downplays his own work ethic, despite plugging away almost daily at agricultural research for more than 60 years in South Florida.
"I am lazy," he says.
Basore won't hear of it. "He has a work ethic that is like no other," Basore says. "He loves what he does."
Guzman was born in Peru, just a month before broke out in June 1914. "I always liked nature plants, animals, trees, whatever," he says. He studied agriculture at the University of Peru, earned a master's degree at UF and then a doctorate at Cornell during World War II, before returning to Peru.
After a Peruvian military coup, Guzman and his U.S.-born wife, Ruth, moved back to the United States, settling in Belle Glade with their young son in 1952 as Guzman began his long career at the UF agricultural station.
Both his career and family flourished. The Guzmans had four other children and gave their brood a childhood filled with plants, animals and learning opportunities.
"We learned many life lessons from the various pets we shared our lives with, including dogs, cats, chickens, guinea fowl, turkeys, cows, rabbits, gators and snakes," their youngest daughter, Carroll Guzman, said in an email. "Both our parents also instilled the love of reading, learning, education in general and the value of being curious and inquisitive about all matters."
Today, the five "remain avid lovers of fruits and vegetables of all types,
Oakley Minute Machine," she said.
Her father first began working on weed control in Belle Glade and began developing lettuce and celery varieties years later. By his 70s, he had published nearly 200 research papers, including one on South Bay "crisphead lettuce," named after the town.
"He's an amazing guy," says Gregg Nuessly, interim director of UF's research center in Belle Glade. Guzman not only developed hardy vegetables, he introduced mechanized planting and weeding of celery, Nuessly says. "He's still working on things to make it easier" for farmers, Nuessly says.
Guzman retired in 1987, But Nuessly says he keeps returning to mentor, teach and research. His office is stuffed with scientific files, data and seeds. Farmers have hired Guzman as a consultant to keep helping them.
"He's our most faithful library patron," says Kathleen L. Krawchuk, coordinator for academic support service at the UF center. "He's always looking for more information. He's always researching topics."
Indeed, even into his 80s, Guzman traveled thousands of miles to collect seeds that might grow in South Florida. He's now working on a paper describing how a type of Peruvian bush-type field bean could be adapted to South Florida. Guzman brought back samples in 2002 and has experimented with them for more than a decade.
Guzman is just as concerned about cultivating young minds, setting up an endowed scholarship at . He also has donated $50,000 to the UF experimental station, Nuessly says.
Farmer Basore says Guzman has inspired him to do his own research, including a recent trip to see how lettuce is grown in the muck of upstate New York.
"He cares about farmers, about the community," Basore says. "He's made me a better farmer."
or Twitter @donnagehrke
Forum 
